


Try to love again

by AshleysMystery



Category: Call of Cthulhu (Roleplaying Game), This Isn't Normal! (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, M/M, mentioned Marcus and Gerdy but they don't really do much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-05 22:01:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17927180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshleysMystery/pseuds/AshleysMystery
Summary: So this is for a podcast called 'This Isn't Normal!'I decided to write a fic for Harvey, cuz why not





	Try to love again

Harvey awkwardly watches Johnson from across the table, things were finally starting to calm down, but anxiety was building up higher in him. His mind keeps looping back to what Dandy asked him months back: Does he have a thing for Johnson?

 

His first reaction was no, but that was his first reaction. Actually spending time with him was making him rethink his answer way more often than he would like. He had many wonderful qualities; helpful, cheerful, not put off by the murder, patient, knowledgeable in magic, wanting to spend time with him for reasons not related to the hotel or the trainyard. It was…. Endearing and starting to make him feel nervous, which got in the way of practicing magic and Johnson was starting to notice.

 

“Mr. Williams, are you alright?” Johnson wasn’t wearing his skin mask, which meant that he could see his antennae twitch with worry. It was kinda cute.

 

“I.. I think so. I don’t think that I’m sick, at least.” Sick in the head might be another issue, but physically he was fine…. Actually, that might be a stretch considering his physical alterations since dealing with demons. “Why?”

 

“I’m just worried. You haven’t been focusing well during practice and you’ve been sticking to the edges of the room, well, more to the edge than before.” His antennae move back. “Is something wrong? I understand if you don’t want to tell me, but I just want you to know…. That I’m here for you if you need me, ok?”

 

“.....” He nods, feeling himself get warm in the face and sweating a bit. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

 

Johnson seems to relax, antennae lifting back up and if he had a mouth, he’d probably be smiling. “That’s all I can ask, sir.”

 

Harvey smiles, then gets up and leaves, smile growing wider as he tried to find somewhere that no one else was. God, he felt like a teen again, hopelessly infatuated with a man that was too good for him. He sits in the nearest chair and puts his hands on his face. Why does his feelings have to be cruel like this?

 

He looks up to see Earnest walk in. “What the fuck? Why are you sitting in the dark buddy?”

 

“Earnest…” He sighed, sitting up straighter and staring at him. “Can you… Wait, no, never mind.”

 

“Aw, don’t be like that. Come on, tell your old friend what’s up.” He pulls over a chair in front of Harvey and sits on it backward. “What’s on your mind?”

 

“..... How did you know that it would be ok with Gerdy?”

 

“That’s a weird question coming from you. Why do you ask? Are you trying to take my girl?” 

 

Harvey snorts. “I’m gay, remember?”

 

“Oh yeah, that’s right.” He relaxes a bit, grin forming on his features. “So, you asking me for love advice? Who you thinking about serenading?”

 

“No serenading, but… some advice would be nice… please.” He was getting nervous again.

 

“Well, for one, I need to know who it is, so I can help!” Earnest leans closer, tipping the chair a bit.

 

He blushes, leaning back a bit. “Does it really matter that much?”

 

“Listen, buddy, pal.”

 

“I’m listening.”

 

“I can’t help you with the person if I don’t know who it is, because people have very different preferences. Like how some people like Louisa love flowers and others like Julia love to eat makeup.”

 

He snorts, relaxing a bit. “I guess you’re right.”

 

“Sooooooo?” Earnest grins, getting way too close again. “Who is it?”

 

“It’s, uh, it’s….” He stands up and tries to leave. “Never mind.”

 

“No, you don’t.” He grabs him and lifts him off the ground. “Tell me!”

 

“Put me down!” He tries to kick him and pull out, but Earnest wouldn’t loosen his grip.

 

“Not until I get my answers, lover boy!” He laughs, spinning in place.

 

The door opens wider to show a confused Dandy and Louisa. “What the fuck are you doing to him?”

 

“Thought you’d recognize an interrogation when you see one.” He easily walked over to the couple. “He won’t tell me who he has a crush on!”

 

“Shut up Earnest…” Harvey attempted a different tactic for escape, wiggling.

 

“He has a crush?” Louisa glanced between her blushing, sort of, boss and his captor. “Is that true?”

 

Dandy leaned closer and had a smug, knowing grin. “Do you have a crush on Johnson?”

 

He was blushing hard, looking away from the curious trio. “I… I might have a thing for Johnson.”

 

Louisa was practically vibrating, Earnest’s grip on him finally loosened, and Dandy was bouncing in place. “I knew it! I knew it! I called it months ago!”

 

“What does Johnson like? Hmmmm….”

 

“Were you asking for love advice from Earnest?” Louisa stood beside Harvey once he was on the ground again.

 

“I was considering it..”

 

“Here’s my advice first, don’t talk to him while he’s near a bathroom.”

 

Harvey gave her a look. “.. Why would I even do that?”

 

“Just keep it in mind, okay?”

 

He looked at his two taller friends to find them suddenly interested in not looking him in the eyes. “..... I shall keep it in mind. Thank you.”

 

“Go get ’em tiger.” She gives him a quick shoulder pat, then runs off.

 

“...... what was the bathroom talk about?”

 

“It’s hard to say, y’know? Cryptic women talking about love and shit..” Earnest shrugs, trying to lie about not knowing.

 

“Well, it’s kind of a long story, but it can be summed up to: Louisa used to hide out in Jimmy James’ bathroom and while I tried to flirt with her,  _ Earnest _ wanted me to ask how her poop went.”

 

“She still hasn’t gotten back to me on that and we’ve known for… about a year now?”

 

“......... I’m going to ignore that.” He weaves away from them, not wanting to learn more about Louisa’s bathroom habits. “I’ll just…. Do something else.”

 

“Wait! We have so much wisdom to give you!” Earnest called out.

 

“Don’t want it anymore!” Harvey wandered off, managing to lose the others between the crowd and many hallways. His friends were weird.

 

He sighed, wandering the halls that regular customers used. It had less people, gave him a more space, and silence for him to think.

 

He liked Johnson, that was apparent now, but was he willing to try to get into a relationship with him? His previous attempts at having a relationship haven’t ended well and it seemed to usually be his fault.

 

He sighed, sitting on a couch in the lobby and staring out a window. It was getting really late and the only people hanging around were night owls and moth people.

 

After a while, Howie finally noticed him and waved him over. “Hey, Mr. Spoopy! How’s it going?”

 

He sighed, getting up and walking to her. “Can’t any of you let me think in peace?”

 

“Well, maybe you should sulk in places that curious people don’t hang out at.” She joked, leaning against the counter. “What’s got you down, sport?”

 

For a second, he cracks a small smile, before goes back to frowning. “Over thinking love.”

 

“Oof, that’s rough, buddy.” She looks around, then pulls a small flask out from under the counter. “Need a drink?”

 

“Have…. Have you been drinking on the job?”

 

She puts it back under the counter. “No.”

 

He shakes his head, chuckling softly. “We’re going to need to talk about that.”

 

“Later though, right?” She grins and gives him finger guns.

 

“Fine later.”

 

She does a quick fist bump and then goes back to focusing on him. “So, what’s love done to you this time?”

 

“Well, it’s making me fall for someone close to me and making me overthink my entire relationship with a moth person. It’s…. It’s getting very stressful.”

 

She nods thoughtfully. “Need a way to tell Johnson you love him?”

 

He looks up at her, mildly scared. “How did you know it was him?”

 

She looks around, trying to feign innocence. “What? Know who?”

 

“.........”

 

“.........”

 

“Do you know what I can say to him to see if he likes me without actually asking him?”

 

“How do you talk to him about important things?”

 

“Well….. I slipped a letter under his door for the dinner and before that, I asked Dandy to help ask him to teach me magic.”

 

She took a deep breath, put her hands in front of her face, almost as if praying, then swiftly tilted her hand to point at him. “You need help. Like, a lot of help.”

 

He blushed and shrugged. “Or I can ignore my feelings and continue to be a cold bitch.”

 

She shakes her head in disapproval, then without looking away, dials a number and holds the phone to her head. “Hi, Gerdy, this is Howie. Can you, Louisa, and Marcus come to the front? We have a new project on our hands. …. Yeah, it can wait til morning. Thank you, see you then!”

 

And that is when Harvey knew, he was fucked.

 

The next few days were filled with too many people invested in his love life. He thinks that someone told moth people outside of his friend group about his crush, because now when he enters rooms that have them, he hears their giggling in his head. Howie was trying to make him confident enough to actually confess to him, Marcus set about cleaning up one of the back rooms for a private place to have a date, Earnest gave a lot of unwanted advice, while Dandy and Louisa gave better advice, and Gerdy provided moth person knowledge. 

 

Now he was standing outside of his door, fidgeting with a piece of paper in his hands. He considered bolting, but Howie and Earnest were at each end of the hall, refusing to let him run. He sighed, knocking on the door and glaring at Earnest.

 

Johnson opened up after a few minutes, in his human skin and smiled. “Hello, Harvey! What… what are you doing here?”

 

He looks at the man in front of him and gives a nervous smile. “Hey, I, uh, I uh, ummm. Just… take this.” He gives him the note and bolts off, trying to get as much distance as possible.  _ This was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad- _

 

“Sir, wait!”

 

He turns to see Johnson running to catch up with him, flushed and holding the paper. “Y… yes?” He fidgets in place, expecting the worse. He could see the vague form of Howie giving him a thumbs up.

 

“Is this real? Do you really want to see more between us?” 

 

He nods, leg tapping the floor and looking at the ground. “You can say no if you want..”

 

“Why would I say no?”

 

He looks up, face growing warmer and pulse getting quick. “What?”

 

He smiles wider. “I like you a lot and I’m happy to learn that you like me back.”

 

His knees were getting weak and he smiles, probably looking ridiculous. “I…… I love you….”

 

“He did it!” Earnest cheered.

 

He groaned, covering his face and turning to look at him. “Yes, I did it. Please, for the love of god, fuck off.”

 

“Fucking off!” The blond laughed, running off, and from the sound of it, so did Howie.

 

“Needed help again?” Johnson joked, resting a hand on Harvey’s shoulder.

 

“Unfortunately.” He chuckles softly and turns to him. “Want to go on a date?”

 

He nods. “Wait, like right now?”

 

“I think Marcus would prefer if we did it sooner than later.” 

 

“Oh boy. Give me a minute to change!” He ran back into his room.

  
Harvey laughs, leaning against the wall as he waits.  _ This is going to be great. _

**Author's Note:**

> The podcast has a discord, if you want to join it ask me


End file.
